George Joseph
George L JosephEmeritus Professor of French, Francophone, and Italian Studies
Joined faculty in 1986
Ph.D., Indiana
M.A., Indiana
B.A., Oberlin Certificat des literatures d'Afrique et de Madagascar from the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, in Senegal
Contact Information
Scholarly Interest
Professor Joseph’s special interests include French Renaissance literature,Francophone African literature and Wolof oral traditions. (Wolof is the main national language of Senegal). He has been recording Wolof oral poetry since 1973. In 1995 he received a Fulbright African Regional Research Fellowship to study translations of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Wolof. This is part of a larger project, which is to compare the first French and Wolof translations of the Bible.
Professor Joseph is also working with a team of scholars under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities to record women’s songs throughout West Africa. They plan to publish an anthology of these songs accompanied by an analytical study.
Teaching Experience
Wellesley
Yale University
Brandeis University and College
Research
Professor Joseph has published Clément Marot (Twayne World Authors Series Boston: G. K. Hall, l985). His other works include conference papers, book reviews, and contributions to specialized volumes as well as articles in periodicals such as French Review, Romanic Review, Oeuvres et critiques, Research in African Literatures, Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature, The Journal of American Semiotics, and Diagonales: La revue de la francophonie linguistique, culturelle, éducative.
Courses Taught
First year seminar: African Myth and Reality
Women in the French Renaissance
Paris Outre-mer, an introduction to Francophone literature
Eros and Thanatos, an introduction to the literature of love in France
Sénégal, an Orientation
Intermediate and advanced French language courses
Publications
La Pédagogie des griots. Diagonales: La revue de la francophonie linguistique culturelle, éducative. 47 (August 1998): 21-23.
Reading Wolof Bible Translations with Muslims. Bible Translation and African Audiences. Nairobi Kenya: Acton Press, 2004.
Centralité centrique: la maison comme e'interface dans Une Si Longue Lettre de Mariama Bâ. The Writings of Mariama Bâ, ed. Ada U. Azodo, Africa World Press, 2004.
Professional Affiliations:
Modern Language Association
African Literature Association
African Studies Association
Renaissance Society of America
Société Française des Seizièmistes
American Association of Teachers of French
PERSONAL STATEMENT
Professor Joseph’s special interests include French Renaissance literature,Francophone African literature and Wolof oral traditions. (Wolof is the main national language of Senegal). He has been recording Wolof oral poetry since 1973. In 1995 he received a Fulbright African Regional Research Fellowship to study translations of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Wolof. This is part of a larger project, which is to compare the first French and Wolof translations of the Bible.
Professor Joseph is also working with a team of scholars under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities to record women’s songs throughout West Africa. They plan to publish an anthology of these songs accompanied by an analytical study.